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DANIEL  D.  TOMPKINS 
Class  of  1795 


H> 

T 


K l^+or^ 


Columbia 

University  Quarterly 


Vol.  IX  — DECEMBER,  1906  — No.  1 

John  fo-u cK\e^j  - 

DANIEL  D.  TOMPKINS 
Class  of  1795 

FEW  more  striking  instances  of  the  self-made  man  can  be  found 
in  the  history  of  this  country  than  the  “ farmer’s  boy  ” who 
was  four  times  elected  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
twice  elected  vice-president  of  the  United  States.  The  son  of  a 
Westchester  farmer,  born  and  bred  on  a farm,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins 
was  fully  entitled  to  the  popular  sobriquet,  which  distinguished  him 
during  his  political  career  from  his  more  aristocratic  rival,  DeWitt 
Clinton,  and  his  remarkable  success  was  due  in  no  small  degree  to 
the  fact  that  he  was  a man  of  the  people.  His  training  for  College, 
such  as  it  was,  he  acquired  between  the  furrows,  and  while  he 
certainly  inherited  the  spirit  which  distinguished  his  father,  his 
patrimony  consisted  of  little  else  but  blood  and  brains. 

His  ancestors  came  from  the  north  of  England  and  settled  at 
Plymouth  prior  to  1640.  His  grandfather,  Nathaniel  Tompkins, 
removed  in  1665  to  Eastchester,  of  which  he  was  one  of  the  first 
proprietors,  and  his  father,  Jonathan  G.  Tompkins,  combined  farm- 
ing with  public  duties,  serving  throughout  the  Revolution  as  a 
member  of  the  legislature,  and  also  as  a member  of  the  State  Con- 
vention that  adopted  the  Declaration  of  Independence  and  the  first 
constitution  of  the  State.  He  was  also  a judge  of  the  court  of 


1 


2 


Columbia  University  Quarterly 


[Dec. 


Common  Pleas  for  many  years  and  upon  the  creation  of  the  State 
University,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  regents.  Daniel  was  the 
seventh  son  of  Judge  Tompkins,  and  was  born  at  Fox  Meadows, 
now  known  as  Scarsdale  (New  York),  on  June  21, 1774.  A bronze 
tablet  commemorates  his  birth-place. 

Entering  Columbia  College  in  1791,  he  graduated  four  years 
later  with  the  highest  honors.  The  estimate  which  he  placed  upon 
his  college  education  may  be  inferred  from  a letter  written  twelve 
years  after  his  graduation,  when  he  was  governor,  strongly  advis- 
ing a friend  to  send  his  son  to  college,  urging  that  “ the  want  of 
a more  thorough  classical  education  will,  forever,  keep  him  in  the 
lowest  and  most  contemptible  grade  of  his  profession.’' 

Among  the  voluminous  papers  which  he  left,  and  which  years 
afterwards  were  purchased  by  the  State,  are  several  of  his  college 
essays,  one  of  which,  dated  September  15,  1792,  is  entitled  “On 
the  necessity  of  establishing  when  young  a character  which  we 
intend  to  support  in  after  life  and  act  always  agreeably  thereto.” 
His  own  character  showed  itself  early,  and  the  alert  mind,  the 
indefatigable  energy  and  the  genial  personality  that  marked  him  in 
college,  were  his  prominent  traits  in  later  life.  Two  years  after 
graduation  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  Politics  were  his  great 
interest,  when  a very  young  man,  and,  in  1801,  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Assembly  and  a delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Con- 
vention of  that  year.  DeWitt  Clinton,  of  the  class  of  1786,  was 
the  leader  of  the  more  numerous  faction  of  the  Republican  party 
on  the  issue  of  the  powers  of  the  Council  of  Appointment,  and 
Tompkins  by  his  nerve  and  independence  soon  made  himself  the 
leader  of  the  minority.  For  the  next  twenty  years  these  two 
Columbia  men  were  the  most  conspicuous  figures  in  New  York 
State  politics. 

Alexander  in  his  recently  published  work*  portrays  the  situa- 
tion and  the  men.  “ The  record  of  New  York  politics,”  he  writes, 
“ is  a record  of  long  and  bitter  contests  between  these  chiefs  of 
two  antagonistic  factions.  What  the  struggle  between  Stalwarts 
and  Half  Breeds  was  to  our  time,  the  struggle  between  Clinton  and 

* A political  history  of  the  State  of  New  York,  by  Dr.  Alva  Stanwood 
Alexander,  A.M.,  1006 


1906] 


Daniel  D.  Tompkins 


3 


Tompkins  was  to  our  ancestors  of  two  and  three  generations  ago. 
Two  men  could  hardly  be  more  sharply  contrasted — the  one  ap- 
peared cold  and  reserved,  the  other  most  gracious  and  gentle; 
Clinton’s  self-confidence  destroyed  the  fidelity  of  those  who  differed 
in  opinion.  Tompkins’  urbanity  disarmed  their  disloyalty.  . . . 
Tompkins  always  firm  and  dignified,  was  affable  in  manner,  sym- 
pathetic in  speech,  overflowing  with  good-nature,  and  unpretending 
to  all  who  approached  him.  It  used  to  be  said  that  Tompkins  made 
more  friends  in  refusing  favors  than  Clinton  did  in  granting  them. 
The  two  men  also  differed  as  much  in  personal  appearance.  Tomp- 
kins, shapely  and  above  the  ordinary  height,  had  large  full  eyes, 
twinkling  with  kindness,  a high  forehead,  wreathed  with  dark 
curly  hair,  and  an  oval  face,  easily  and  usually  illuminated  with 
a smile.”  Professor  James  Renwick,  who  was  one  of  his  College 
instructors,  writes  of  Tompkins  that  “ he  had  the  faculty  of  never 
forgetting  a name  or  face  of  any  person  with  whom  he  had  once 
conversed  ” ; and  the  author  of  the  “ National  portrait  gallery  ” 
describes  him  “ as  one  of  the  most  amiable,  benevolent  and  true- 
hearted men  who  ever  lived.” 

Possessing  these  qualities  and  strong  political  ambition  it  is  not 
remarkable  that  Tompkins’s  advancement  was  rapid.  In  1804  he 
was  elected  to  Congress,  as  a colleague  of  Dr.  Samuel  Latham 
Mitchill,  A.M.  (hon.)  1788,  but  resigned  before  the  session  began, 
in  order  to  accept  an  appointment  as  associate  justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  to  succeed  James  Kent  upon  his  advancement  as  chief 
justice.  As  a judge  he  was  known  for  his  punctuality,  his  fidelity 
to  duty,  his  careful  consideration  of  every  fact,  however  small, 
his  strict  impartiality,  and  for  the  justice  of  his  decisions.  Had  he 
remained  longer  upon  the  bench,  he  would  undoubtedly  have  gained 
great  distinction  as  a jurist,  but  the  three  years  during  which  he 
held  judicial  office  so  extended  the  popular  regard  in  which  he  was 
held  that  in  1807,  when  only  thirty- three  years  of  age,  he  was 
nominated  and  elected  governor  of  the  State.  The  remarkable 
popularity  which  led  to  his  election  was  due  not  only  to  his  personal 
charm  and  happy  faculty  of  dealing  with  people,  nor  to  the  fact,  as 
Alexander  expresses  it,  “that  the  qualities  of  fairness  and  fitness 
which  Greek  wisdom  praised  in  the  conduct  of  life  were  character- 
istic of  his  life,”  but  also  to  his  wide  range  of  interests. 


4 


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[Dec. 


He  was  deeply  interested  in  education,  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Public  School  Society,  and  urged  upon  the  legislature  the 
necessity  of  more  ample  provision  by  the  State  for  schools.  While 
governor  he  labored  assiduously  to  bring  about  the  establishment 
of  Washington  College  on  Staten  Island,  and  no  one  can  read  his 
correspondence  with  Bishop  Hobart  on  the  subject,  without  being 
impressed  with  the  earnestness  of  his  convictions.* 

He  was  also  a founder  of  the  New  York  Historical  Society, 
which  owes  its  existence  to  a combination  of  Columbia  and  Prince- 
ton graduates ; and  he  was  an  enthusiastic  Mason,  holding  the  office 
of  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge  from  1820  to  1821.  His 
broad  humanitarian  views  are  shown  by  his  recommendation  to 
the  Legislature  that  capital  punishment  be  abolished  for  all  crimes 
except  treason  and  murder,  that  whipping  should  be  abolished  as 
the  penalty  for  petty  larceny,  and  by  his  last  recommendation  as 
governor,  in  pursuance  of  which  slavery  was  abolished  in  the  State 
of  New  York  on  July  4,  1827.  The  bulky  volumes  of  his  cor- 
respondence, now  in  the  State  Library,  show  him  to  have  been  a 
man  who  might  well  say,  with  Terence,  Humani  nihil  a me  alienum 
puto. 

When  Tompkins  was  first  elected  governor,  the  relations  of  this 
country  with  Great  Britain  were  greatly  strained  by  the  latter’s 
impressment  of  American  seamen,  and  before  he  was  inaugurated 
England  had  published  its  orders  in  Council,  forbidding  all  neutral 
trade  with  France;  Napoleon  had  promulgated  his  Milan  decree 
barring  all  neutral  trade  with  England;  and  the  Congress  of  the 
United  States  had  ordered  an  embargo  prohibiting  all  foreign  bound 
American  vessels  from  leaving  United  States  ports.  Tompkins 
was  thus  confronted  with  a serious  crisis  at  the  very  outset  of  his 
administration.  The  feeling  in  New  York  against  the  embargo 
was  especially  strong,  since  New  York  was  the  greatest  sufferer, 
but  Tompkins  stood  loyally  by  the  administration  and  pleaded  for 
“a  magnanimous  confidence  in  the  efforts  of  our  national  councils  ” 
and  “ for  a firm  unanimous  determination  to  devote  everything 
that  is  dear  to  us  to  maintain  our  right  and  national  honor.”  The 
legislature  and  public  opinion  sustained  the  governor’s  views,  but 

* History  of  Columbia  University,  p.  103 


1906] 


Daniel  D.  Tompkins 


5 


it  was  not  until  he  had  been  twice  reelected,  in  1810  and  again  in 
1813,  upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  with  England,  that  Tomp- 
kins had  opportunity  to  demonstrate  the  true  quality  of  his  patriot- 
ism and  the  extent  of  his  capacity  as  an  administrator.  The  crisis 
demanded  both  qualities  in  the  governor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
for  the  general  government  had  neither  men,  money  nor  credit,  and 
New  York  was  the  pivotal  State.  The  whole  country  was  in 
jeopardy,  but  it  was  evident  from  the  outset  that  New  York  State 
must  be  the  principal  battlefield  of  the  struggle,  and  that  the  State 
must  to  a great  extent  provide  its  own  means  of  defence. 

Governor  Tompkins  urged  the  Legislature  to  advance  the  funds 
necessary  to  supply  arms  and  put  troops  into  the  field,  but  the 
Federalists  were  in  control  and  refused  financial  support.  The 
New  York  banks  also  declined  to  make  advances  on  United  States 
Treasury  notes.  But  Tompkins  was  indefatigable.  His  enthusi- 
asm inspired  enthusiasm  in  others  and  by  pledging  his  personal  and 
official  credit,  he  succeeded  in  securing  advances  of  a million  dollars. 
In  these  efforts  the  governor  was  nobly  sustained  by  his  political 
rival  DeWitt  Clinton,  who,  as  mayor,  induced  the  Common  Council 
to  borrow  money  on  the  credit  of  the  city  and  loan  it  to  the  United 
States,  raised  a fund  and  erected  fortifications  for  the  defence  of 
the  city.  It  is  interesting  to  note  in  passing  that  the  students  then 
in  College  organized  a militia  company,  known  from  the  color  of 
their  uniform  as  the  “ College  Greens/’  and  aided  in  building  earth- 
works on  Morningside  Heights. 

Hugh  Hastings,  the  State  Historian,  in  his  admirable  preface 
to  the  “Military  papers  of  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,”  published  by  the 
State  under  his  editorship,  epitomizes  the  services  of  Governor 
Tompkins,  at  this  juncture,  as  follows : 

He  was  not  only  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and 
commander  of  all  the  forces  of  the  State,  but  paymaster,  quarter- 
master, commissary,  commander  of  the  Third  United  States  Mili- 
tary District  and  general  disbursing  agent  for  the  State  of  New 
York  and  for  the  United  States.  During  the  three  years  of  the 
war  he  disbursed  more  than  three  millions  of  dollars,  of  which 
one  million  was  for  the  State  and  two  millions  were  for  the  United 
States.  In  less  than  forty  days,  without  assistance  and  money 


6 


Columbia  University  Quarterly 


[Dec 


from  the  National  Government,  he  mustered  into  the  field  at  vari- 
ous points  of  danger  in  New  York,  50,000  men  who  were  organ- 
ized, armed  and  equipped;  and  in  less  than  sixty  days,  when  the 
credit  of  the  National  Government  was  absolutely  gone,  he  raised 
$1,000,000  for  the  public  service  and  made  himself  personally 
liable  for  the  entire  amount. 

On  the  strength  of  his  personal  credit,  he  advanced  the  money 
which  kept  up  the  Military  Academy  at  West  Point,  and  paid  for 
the  manufacture  of  arms  in  Springfield,  and  he  continued  the  re- 
cruiting service  in  Connecticut,  while  the  New  England  Federalists 
were  not  only  withholding  aid,  but  actually  discussing  in  conven- 
tion at  Hartford  the  withdrawal  of  the  New  England  States  from 
the  Union.  Tompkins  was  in  truth,  as  Alexander  calls  him,  “ a 
great  war  governor.  Among  civilians  most  admired  for  their 
part  in  the  struggle,  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  stood  first.”  There  can 
be  no  doubt  that  he  was  largely  instrumental  in  bringing  the  conflict 
to  a successful  issue. 

In  the  spring  of  1815,  after  peace  had  been  proclaimed,  he 
resigned  the  command  of  the  Tffird  Military  District,  to  which 
he  had  been  appointed  at  the  outbreak  of  hostilities,  and  President 
Madison  addressed  to  him  a letter  of  thanks  for  his  “ patriotic,  ac- 
tive, and  able  support  given  to  the  Government  during  the  war.” 

Before  the  close  of  the  war  President  Madison  invited  Tomp- 
kins to  become  secretary  of  state,  but  the  offer  was  declined,  and  in 
1816  the  people  of  New  York  again  reelected  him  to  the  governor- 
ship by  a majority  that  attested  his  widespread  popularity.  “ For 
the  moment  everyone  seemed  to  be  carried  away  by  the  fascination 
of  the  man,”  writes  Alexander.  “ His  friends  asserted  that  he  was 
always  right  and  always  successful ; that  patriotism  had  guided  him 
through  the  long  discouraging  war,  and  that  swayed  neither  by 
prejudice  nor  by  the  impulses  of  personal  ambition,  in  every  step 
he  took  and  every  measure  he  recommended,  he  was  actuated  by  the 
most  unselfish  purpose.  . . . Even  Federalists  ceased  to  be  his 
critics  . . . A 

Higher  honors  were  in  store  for  him,  and  in  April,  1816,  he  was 
elected  vice-president  of  the  United  States,  James  Monroe  being  the 
newly  chosen  president.  The  office  of  vice-president,  though  more 


1906] 


Daniel  D.  Tompkins 


7 


distinguished  than  that  of  governor,  offered  but  few  opportunities 
for  the  exercise  of  Tompkins’s  abilities,  and  while  he  filled  it  with 
great  dignity  and  with  such  satisfaction  to  his  party  that  he  was 
reelected  for  a second  term,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  impressed 
himself  upon  public  affairs  at  Washington  to  any  marked  degree. 
His  reelection  to  the  vice-presidency  occurred  in  1820,  and  in  the 
same  year  he  was  renominated  for  governor,  but  was  defeated.  He 
was  elected,  however,  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  of  1821, 
and  in  a body  remarkable  for  the  ability  of  its  members,  which 
included  John  Jay,  and  his  son  Peter  Augustus  Jay,  Rufus  King, 
Nathan  Sanford,  James  Kent,  Ambrose  Spencer,  and  many  others 
of  unusual  distinction,  by  a vote  of  sixteen  to  ninety-four  Tomp- 
kins was  chosen  president. 

But  the  later  years  of  Governor  Tompkins  were  embittered  by 
official  injustice  which  was  not  rectified  until  long  after  his  death, 
and  presents  a pathetic  illustration  of  the  ingratitude  of  republics. 
Charged  by  the  State  Comptroller  with  a shortage  in  his  accounts, 
in  connection  with  the  War  of  1812,  amounting,  as  alleged,  to 
$120,000,  Tompkins  claimed  that  there  was  a large  amount  due  to 
him  from  the  State.  Both  the  legislature  and  Congress  took  ac- 
tion on  his  accounts,  and  President  Monroe  sent  *a  special  message 
to  Congress  recommending  payment.  Congressman  McLane  in 
supporting  the  claims  of  the  vice-president  said  on  the  floor  of  the 
House:  “ We  all  know  that  at  a moment  when  others  were  hus- 
banding their  funds  or  dealing  them  out  with  a very  scanty  hand, 
this  man  risked  everything  for  the  public  cause  and  staked  his 
private  fortune  in  its  support.  It  is  to  services  thus  rendered  that 
his  present  embarrassment  may  be  traced.  In  consequence  of  them 
he  now  calls  on  his  country,  not  for  charity  but  for  justice.” 

These  views  were  fully  shared  by  the  great  majority  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  but  none  the  less  he  was  denied  payment  by  the 
State.  Judgments  were  entered  against  him  for  the  moneys  which 
he  had  advanced  or  made  himself  responsible  for  in  carrying  on 
the  war,  his  household  furniture  was  sold  under  execution,  and  his 
wife  and  infant  child  literally  turned  upon  the  street.  Harassed 
by  his  creditors,  mortified  by  his  political  reverses,  and  heart-broken 
by  the  injustice  to  which  he  was  subjected,  he  died  on  June  1 1,  1825, 
in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age. 


8 


Columbia  University  Quarterly 


[Dec. 


Years  afterwards  it  was  discovered  that  the  State  was  debtor  to 
Governor  Tompkins  to  the  amount  of  $92,000,  and  the  payment  of 
the  debt  has  removed  the  only  shadow  from  his  memory,  but  justice 
so  long  deferred  can  hardly  be  deemed  justice,  and  the  treatment 
which  he  received  from  the  State  serves  to  bring  into  stronger 
relief  the  personal  qualities  which  made  him  so  beloved  and  admired 
as  a man,  and  the  unflinching  patriotism  and  self-sacrificing  devo- 
tion to  the  public  weal,  which  mark  him  as  the  highest  type  of  citi- 
zen. He  lies  in  a forgotten  and  almost  unknown  grave  in  St. 
Mark’s  churchyard,  but  the  monument  which  may  sometime  com- 
memorate his  activity  may  fitly  repeat  the  words  of  the  historian, 
“ His  life  was  pure  and  noble;  he  was  a sincere  lover  of  his  country, 
a brave  and  often  daring  executive,  a statesman  of  high  purpose.” 
Obscured  as  his  name  has  been  by  the  misfortunes  of  his  later  years, 
his  alma  mater  may  well  give  it  a place  among  the  highest  on  her 
roll  of  honor. 


John  B.  Pine 


THE  TECHNICAL  SCHOOL  AND  THE  UNIVERSITY 
URING  the  past  four  hundred  years  there  has  been  a most 


significant  although  gradual  development  in  the  university 
organization.  This  has  been  a necessary  result  of  the  evolution  of 
knowledge.  The  earliest  continental  universities  found  a reason 
for  their  being  in  the  dissemination  of  a system  of  scholastic  learn- 


ing which  had  little  to  do  with  the  affairs  of  men.  A body  of 


learning  based  chiefly  if  not  wholly  upon  certain  conventional  sys- 
tems of  abstract  knowledge  like  the  Aristotelian  logic,  transmitted 
with  little  or  no  change  from  the  masters  of  antiquity,  constituted 
essentially  all  they  had  to  offer  to  their  students.  The  instruction 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  certain  exercises  in  this  intellectual  in- 
heritance practically  unchanged  through  the  centuries  of  its  trans- 
mission. This  mental  training  had  essentially  no  relation  to  or 
bearing  upon  the  actual  things  of  human  experience,  nor  had  it 
much  effect  upon  national  life  or  upon  any  of  the  varied  interests 
of  the  community. 


